#whoispoly

UNTOLD STORIES

Kole invades the bedroom with one of his always pleasant good morning greetings, "Oh shit! Did you guys have sex?"    

I crack open my eyes, unsure of my whereabouts at first. I look around, Micah and I had made our way to opposite sides of the bed.

"Go away Kole," Micah groans.

Eli appears in the doorway, I guess Kole's question got his attention. "We are outta here in an hour," he mumbles with his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth as he peers in at us over Kole's shoulder.

"SHARP!" Caleb calls from the kitchen.

Micah rolls sluggishly from the bed and drags himself into the kitchen wearing nothing but his boxer briefs.

I throw on my T-shirt from the night before and walk out to get some orange juice before I brush my teeth.

Micah and Eli stand in the corner by the sink whispering. Ugh, I hate it when they do this. What are those two always whispering about?

"Good morning, love. Can you be ready in like an hour," Caleb asks, passing behind me, reaching out to mess up my hair... as if it wasn't bad enough already.

"Of course," I promise.

Micah and Eli notice my presence and part ways.

"Morning P," Eli gives me a wink and quickly exits the kitchen.

Micah is leaning against the sink, his eyes closed tightly against the harsh light of a new day, he pushes himself forward and grabs a glass from the cabinet, pours it half full of orange juice, and slides it across the counter to me.

"How did you know that's what I was here for?"

"Huh?" he looks at me confused like this is the first time he's noticed me there, "um... oh... I'm not sure, I didn't... you want something else?" He reaches out to take the glass back but I grab it before he does.

I chug the juice and slide the empty glass back across the sparkling quartz countertop toward him. He watches me but says nothing.

"Okay then... gonna take a quick shower," I push myself away from the island with both hands.

"Need help?" Micah jokes, refilling my glass as I turn to walk away.

"I think I can manage, but thanks," I don't look back.

"Next time, then."

I stop and turn to look at him, "you wish, Micah."

"Yeah, I do," he says into the glass of OJ and I pretend to ignore it.

Once I'm out of sight, I throw my head back against the wall and let out a sigh of agony. This beautiful, emotionally unattached boy is going to be the death of me and I'm just going to walk into it willingly.

We get showered and pack up our things, saying a regrettable goodbye to the posh penthouse. When Caleb gets to the desk to check out, there is another note left for him.

Leave your keys with the concierge, he has another set for you.
xJax

A man approaches Caleb, carefully placing a set of keys in the palm of his hand. Caleb takes them and looks back at us curiously. The man tells him something we don't hear and Caleb gives him the keys to our rental.

"Right this way, Mr. Pearce," the mysterious man says and leads us out the revolving door, none of us have a clue what's going on... but there in the driveway sits an all-black convertible 1967 Chevy Camaro Super Sport, top-down, King Jareth playing on the radio. The note inside reads:

She's mine, get her home safe.
Jax

Caleb is overcome with excitement, this is one more tick off his bucket list - 'Road trip in a classic convertible'. He is always happy, but this is the happiest I have seen him yet, for sure. 

"Guys, I really think I'm going to cry," he walks in slow motion around the car.

"It's all happeninnnnng," Micah sings as he breezes past him to get a better look.

We all pile into the much smaller car and I'm pretty sure I hear a squeal as we drive away... not from the tires, but from Caleb.

The drive from Vegas to Joshua Tree is nothing less than perfect. It's sunny without being too hot, there is barely any traffic, the scenery is amazing, and Jax has upgraded the radio system in his car so we jam out the entire time to all the classics; Joan Jett, Heart, Queen, The Ramones... When 'I Want You to Want Me' by Cheap Trick comes on, Micah turns his mouth to my ear and sings the entire first verse. 

I pretend to be unphased, totally calm... and then...

"I'm begging you to beg me...." his voice is louder... more intense... seductive and.... shit.

Don't react, Palila. But the less I react, the harder he tries, he reaches down and grabs my hand, tangling our fingers and pulling my hand up to his heart when he sings, "Feeling alone without a friend..."

Eli catches all of this out of the corner of his eye. He stretches his arm across the top of the back seat and smooths the hair on the back of Micah's head, Micah leans into it and closes his eyes, and keeps singing.

"I'd love you to love me," he sings one final verse as his head rolls in Eli's direction and they both smile.

I will never stop being confused by these two.
    

We arrive at Joshua Tree and find the perfect spot to eat the lunch we picked up a few miles back. Kole insists on a desert photo shoot for his mysterious scrapbook, and we all relax and recall our favorite parts of the trip before heading home to LA.

I'm surprised to hear how much Micah loved Moab, he doesn't seem like the outdoorsy type, but that night on Potash Trail really stayed with him.

Before we set off on the last two hours of our drive, Caleb turns to us "Guys, I just want to say how much it means to me that you all came along on this trip. I love all of you so much. More than ever. I'm not just saying that, I mean it."

"Awwwwww"

"I love you, Caleb," Eli and Kole say in unison.

"When we get to L.A., I'm going to cuddle all of you so hard," Micah chimes in.

"CUDDLE PUDDLE!!!" Caleb yells and throws up dirt as we fishtail onto the highway that will take us straight home to Los Angeles... but we have one more stop along the way.

Just outside of Palm Springs, Caleb finally makes good on his promise and takes Micah to see the dinosaurs from PeeWees Big Adventure.

While they run around and play like little kids, I call my mom to catch her up on the past couple of days. She is happy to hear we are almost home and she can't wait to hear all about the new characters in some of my favorite stories yet.